katabatic
English edit
Alternative forms edit
Etymology edit
Learned borrowing from Ancient Greek καταιβατός (kataibatós, “down-going, descending”), from κατα- (kata-, “down”) + βαίνω (baínō, “to go”).
Pronunciation edit
Adjective edit
katabatic (not comparable)
- (meteorology, of airflow) Downslope on a mountainside.
- 2005, Nicholas Johnson, chapter 3, in Big Dead Place, →ISBN:
- At the field camp, paper-thin tents shudder beneath katabatic blasts of freezing wind, stoves sputter a stingy flame, and a few trudging specks haul shovels through a cold world where extra food and equipment cannot be bought at any price.
- 2006 February 24, Tishani Doshi, “Meanwhile: The long view from Antarctica”, in The New York Times[1], →ISSN:
- Penguin colonies that number in millions; nights that run into days, and days that run into nights; katabatic winds that scream down the ice sheets at a terrifying 180 miles per hour, and then remain equally terrifyingly still.
Antonyms edit
Derived terms edit
Translations edit
Translations
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Noun edit
katabatic (plural katabatics)
- Short for katabatic wind.
Further reading edit
- katabatic wind on Wikipedia.Wikipedia